


A Place for Valor

by FromOrzammarWithLove



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Philosophy, Slow Burn, The Qun (Dragon Age), especially sten, idiots can't talk about their feelings, unashamed hearteyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 17:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19816876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FromOrzammarWithLove/pseuds/FromOrzammarWithLove
Summary: Ragna Brosca and Sten have a talk beneath a tree.





	A Place for Valor

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of "The Sun", Ragna's and Sten's first sparring session and the first time Sten called her "Kadan". This fic takes place a day later, when both of these idiots realize they've become close.

This work will be continued as "Of Stone and Steel". You can read it here:  
[**Of Stone and Steel**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19882972) (3416 words) by [**FromOrzammarWithLove**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FromOrzammarWithLove)  
Chapters: 2/?  
Fandom: [Dragon Age - All Media Types](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Dragon%20Age%20-%20All%20Media%20Types), [Dragon Age: Origins](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Dragon%20Age:%20Origins)  
Rating: Mature  
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply  
Relationships: Sten/Female Warden, Sten/Warden, Brosca/Sten, Female Brosca/Sten  
Characters: Sten (Dragon Age), Brosca (Dragon Age), Female Brosca (Dragon Age), Female Warden (Dragon Age)  
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Falling In Love, Sparring, Talking, Alternate Canon  


„Does it still hurt?“, the Qunari’s voice pulled Ragna Brosca from her thoughts and she looked up at her large companion. Sten had been walking next to her for a while, but she hadn’t noticed. In all their weeks of travelling together, Sten had never been the one to initiate a conversation.

„Your wound?“, he said, glancing at Ragna’s shoulder, where he had hit her with the blunt end of his sword, during their sparring session, the evening prior. The dwarf smiled.

„It’s bruising up a bit“, she answered. „But I assume your throat is worse?“. It was a question. Ragna had cut the Qunari during their session. Enough to draw blood. Sten’s hand absentmindedly touched the red scab, just below his Adam’s apple. „It is healing. A clean cut and nicely done. Asit tal-eb, Kadan.“

Ragna lifted an eyebrow at that. „That word you use, ‘Kadan’... you’re still not going to tell me what it means?“. That made the Qunari shift around uncomfortably, before he simply said: „No“, and the silence between them returned.

For a while the only thing Ragna heard was the chirping of birds in the bushes and fields, as well as the sound of her footsteps on the dirt road and the clanking of her armor. A lively conversation between Shale and Alistair carried over to her ears, and further behind them, Wynne and Leliana were involved in a deep conversation. The others were out of earshot.

„I meant to ask you...“, Sten began again, much to Ragna’s surprise. This time she did react: „You’re being rather chatty today, Sten. What’s on your mind?“.

He ignored her tone and said: „I was meaning to ask you something, Kadan. I have been thinking about it, ever since we left Redcliffe“.

„Must be important then“, Ragna said, grinning. „Or have your thoughts been distracted by our little battle scars?“.

Sten’s facial expressions slipped, as he pressed his lips together and visibly rolled his eyes. „They have, though not in a way you might think, Kadan“. And there it was back again, the feeling of walls between them. He could say something so simple and yet Ragna could not read what he meant. His face never revealed anything about what he was feeling or thinking and Ragna was left with the wildest interpretations dancing around in her mind, always sure she must be misinterpreting him and yet too proud to ask him, knowing well that she would most likely just recieve another sarcastic cryptic comment, followed by puzzling silence. 

There was no time left for Ragna to ponder what Sten had said, for without wasting air, he simply continued: „The dwarf we met in Redcliffe. Dwyn, correct?“

„I think that was his name, yeah“, Ragna said. Where was he going with this?

„He was very strange“, Sten said.

„Oh, you know. That’s just a dwarven thing. We have strange blood. Comes from living under so much stone, I hear“, Ragna said with a chuckle.

„Warden-“, Sten said, in a exasperated voice, but before he could start complaining, Ragna defensibly lifted her hands and said: „Alright, alright. I’ll stop. Please, continue“. She made an exhaggerated gesture and grinned at the Qunari, but she let him talk.

„He was content to sit in his house and watch the village around him fall to the undead. Why? He was certain he would still benefit. How?“

„Why does anyone do anything, Sten? It’s uncommon for us dwarves to have your sense of purpose. At least where I grew up“, Ragna answered, with a sigh.  
„Are you not both from Orzammar?“, Sten asked, puzzled, stopping and staring at her. Ragna stopped, too, bewildered by his confusion.

„Everything alright over there?“, she could hear Alistair call from behind them. She called back without looking: „Yes, everything’s fine!“, then she motioned at Sten to keep on moving and the two of them carried on.

„Technically we are both from Orzammar, but... well...“, she searched for the right words, looking down at the dirt road, while she was walking. „Dust Town is... different, if you will, from the rest of Orzammar“.

„Dust Town?“, Sten asked, lifting an eyebrow.

„It’s where I grew up. Where all the casteless do“.

„Casteless? What is that?“

„Sten, how much exactly do you know about dwarves?“, Ragna asked, laughing.

„Not nearly enough, it seems. I apologize. There are not many of your kind in Par Vollen, and I have met none in Seheron“, Sten answered. 

The thought of Qunari dwarves made Ragna’s head spin, but she didn’t dwell on it. „So I take it the Qunari have no castes? No clans?“.

„No castes. No clans. Everyone is the same in the face of the Qun.“, Sten answered and though his gaze was still on her, Ragna could tell his eyes were somewhere far away.

„That sounds beautiful“, Ragna said, her smile fading from her lips.

„It is“, Sten answered breathlessly, almost a whisper, his eyes fixed on her, as if he were taking her sight in for the first time.

And then the silence returned. For almost half and hour the two of them walked silently next to each other. Together, but each of them so caught up in their own thoughts, that it was as though a barrier were placed between them. Soon they had ventured so far ahead of their companions, that they were nowhere to be seen, as well as heard. They had a large head start on the others. Ragna and Sten approached a large oak tree, on the side of the road, where they wordlessly decided to wait.

It was Ragna who broke the silence. „Casteless is what I am, Sten. It’s what this means“, she lifted a hand to her cheek and showed Sten her brand. „They burn this onto our faces when we are born. It marks us as casteless, the lowest of the low. Forsaken by the Stone, because our ancestors weren’t worthy enough. Forbidden to leave Dust Town, forbidden to find work, forbidden to wield a sword, don a suit or armor and brandish a shield. Forbidden to do anything but cower in the dust and beg and steal our daily meal“, she leaned against the tree and slid downwards, to sit on one of its roots.

„And yet you have done all of these things“, Sten answered, his tone as unreadably neutral as ever.

„Yes. And I can never return because of it. I’ll be spending the rest of my life in this cold, rainy, stinking mudhole of a country, hunting darkspawn and fighting the blight til either I die, or the archdemon eventually scrambles my brian, and you know what? It’s still better than what my people have to suffer back home“. Old anger flared up inside her. She knew Sten could sense it. He was quiet for a bit, gathering his thoughts, before he finally spoke up.

„This surface, as you call it, does not just consist of Ferelden, you know?“, Sten said. „It is not cold and muddy in Par Vollen. We have white shores, clear seas, palm trees and the richest forest you will ever see. We do have rain however. That we do. But that is not what I am trying to say“, he said, pausing again to find the right words. He took a seat next to her, so close she could smell him.

„When I woke up in this cold, rainy, stinking mudhole of a country, and Asala was not by my side, it meant I’d never get to return home, either. I had brought shame on myself and the Qun for this failure and had condemned myself to a half-life out here“ He made a sweeping gesture over the sprawling landscape in front of them, which, despite their harsh words, did look rather beautiful in the orange light of the late afternoon sun. The beige plants on the fields - hop, Wynne had told her - in front of them looked golden in its light, and the patch of forest behind the field looked a little more green and a little less dark and dour. Still, Ragna understood what Sten meant. The distinct feeling of not belonging to this landscape, of being an outsider, an intruder, a stranger sitting beneath this tree, was a strong feeling. She had felt it countless times before, but now it sank into her flesh and clung to her soul.

„I thought I would become Tal-Vashoth, the same as the countless fiends I had slain on Seheron. Without the Qun, what was there in my life? What could I possibly do but give in to this... this primal bloodlust? And I did. For reasons I cannot recall now, I killed a farmer and his family. I spilled the blood of innocents. Bas they were, but innocent still.“ He made another pause, staring out over the golden hop fields. Ragna had never witnessed him talk so much of his own accord. 

„When I came back to my senses, Asala was still lost and I was still Tal-Vashoth. But I made a decision. I was not going to give in to the bloodlust. Not ever again. I was abandoned by the Qun, but that did not mean the Qun was not still a part of my mind. And so I turned myself in, to the guards of Lothering. I was prepared to die then. For days I waited in that cage. And then...“

„Then we found you“, Ragna finished his sentence. Sten turned to face her. His violet eyes found her brown ones and for a faint moment, Ragna thought she could see the Qunari smile. 

„Then you found me. And you helped me get Asala back. Now I can return home again. Because of you, Kadan.“

„That’s wonderful for you, Sten. For me it’s more likely I’ll die in some ditch, at the hands of a darkspawn, than that I’ll ever go home. And if I did it would just be to return to the old suffering, the worthlessness of being casteless“, Ragna answered.

„Then perhaps you should not go home.“, Sten said and closed more of the almost non-existant distance between them. „There is worth in your life, Kadan. There is value, honor, a purpose.“

„I have a purpose. I’m going to stop this blight, or die trying“, Ragna gave back, staring intensely at Sten, whose face was now right in front of hers. He put his hand on hers.

„And I will fight at your side until the end. But if the blight is defeated and the archdemon slain. Know this, Ragna, there is a place in this world for you. Where your valor can be used to benefit all. Where I...“, his voice trailed off and he finally broke eye contact. 

„You’ve never called me Ragna before.“, Ragna said. „You’ve never said my name, not once, until now“. 

Sten looked down and sighed. „We do not use names in the qun. Who we are is more important than what we are called“.

„Is that why you’ve been calling me Kadan, instead of Ragna?“

„No. That is... something else.“, Sten said cryptically, and fixed his gaze on the horizon. And with that they fell silent once more, but this time there was not barrier between them. This time, it was as if finally Ragna was able to see beneath his surface. He had never let go of her hand. He was still close enough that she felt the heat radiating from his body. And she realized something. Something that had been creeping up on her these past days. She smiled and rested her head against his shoulder. He never pulled away.


End file.
